THORNS & VENOM | h.p.a.u

AMORTENTIA

Stay positive! Happiness only! 

He regarded her with eyes of a crazy man who'd gone through the desert without water for days and had just spotted an oasis. Except Rose wasn't going to be his oasis. She'd make sure he'd realized that she was nothing but a mirage as far as he was concerned.

Scorpius took a sip from his mug. It was white chocolate peppermint tea again. Her favorite.

"You're not going to have breakfast?" he raised a brow.

"I'll eat after class. I concentrate more that way." she eyed him warily, "Eating before my class makes me feel sleepy."

He tipped her head up with a finger.

"No kiss goodbye?" He smirked wryly.

She scoffed, whipping out the potions textbook to jab the corner of it right between his ribs. "No lessons for now. I'm too focused on Lysander to be thinking about you, Malfoy."

He grimaced, but made no other expression of pain before leaving the entrance to tredge back into his room.

With a huff, Rose fled through the Slytherin common room with her head bowed in hopes no one would notice her. Albus caught her around the neck of her robes just as she reached the entrance.

"Morning, Ronnie!" He grinned like the insufferable idiot he was.

Rose didn't hold back her scowl. "I hate you."

He chuckled and walked her out. "Someone had a bad night."

"Bad morning, actually." she muttered. "I woke up and walked into the kitchen only to see Scorpius shirtless. At 7:40 in the morning, he chooses to be shirtless."

Albus simply shook his head, blue eyes shining despite the damp darkness of the dungeons. "Alright, here you are."

She waved goodbye to Albus and found her seat next to Lysander Scamander.

Merlin, she still swooned every time he gave her a half cocked grin, his brown hair shimmering. He was a brilliant wizard and despite being two years younger than her, he had climbed his way up to the top to take even the advanced potions class.

She remembered every detailed encounter with him, ingraining it into her memory. Their first encounter on the Hogwarts train her third year- he was so much taller than her, which was saying something since Rose stood her own against tall people. But he was so sweet and nice, buying herself and Lily chocolate frogs. Lysander Scamander was mature for his age. And it just drew Rose closer and closer, like a moth to a flame.

"Hi," she blurted as she took her seat.

He looked up at her and grinned. "Hey, Rose. Sorry about the quidditch match, I heard that Gryffindor lost to Slytherin. Lorcan went to see the game- he said all the Hufflepuffs swear by your game play. Though the Ravenclaw common room is just bustling over the fact Scorpius could've been cheating."

Lysander was a Ravenclaw through and through, just like his mother. His twin brother was a Hufflepuff, just like his father. But the last part of that statement caught Rose's attention.

"There's speculation that Malfoy cheated?"

He nodded vigorously as Professor Slughorn trailed into the classroom. "I heard that Maryse Zabini hexed the game."

Rose raised a brow at that. She knew Maryse Zabini only through whispers and from far observance to get well-needed information for Scorpius. A pureblood Slytherin that she'd yet to meet. But she had her doubts about hexes- especially ones so discreet that Rose herself couldn't identify them during the game.

"Today we shall be making the most dangerous love potion- Amortentia." Professor Slughorn's voice echoed in the dungeon. "Join together with your partner and explain what you smell after you create the potion, found on page 27."

Lysander reached for this textbook, flipping open to the correct page as Rose followed in suit.

1 Ashwinder Egg

1 Handful of Rose Thorns

1 Vial of Refined Peppermint Oil

1 Moonstone

*stir until steam rises

"I'll grab the Ashwinder egg and the peppermint oil." Lysander smiled. "I believe it's only fitting if you grab the rose thorns."

"Of course. And the moonstone." Rose added, sending him back a grin of her own.

Oh Merlin, he's so cute!

Entering the cabinets to pull out the ingredients, she peeked at Lysander at the opposite side of the classroom as he reached up with ease to grab the peppermint oil at the top of the shelf.

She returned back before he did and decided to skim over the reading over Amortentia.

"An obsessive love potion that smells differently to each witch or wizard, according to what attracts them," she mused.

She briefly wondered what Lysander would smell. If Scorpius' information was correct, then hopefully it wouldn't be the girl he was snogging in the hallway. After all, Rose knew for a fact that she'd smell him.

Professor Slughorn was making his rounds throughout the classrooms, drawing attention to the imperfections in the potion.

"How hard is it to make Amortentia?" Slughorn sighed.

Lysander returned with the ingredients and they finished up the potion just as Slughorn arrived.

"Ah," he gave a small smile. "This is a potion done right. Now, tell me what you smell."

Lysander went first, leaning forward to waft the opalescent steam upwards in curls. "I smell rain water and...lilies."

Rose tried to decipher that meaning as Slughorn gestured for her to take a whiff.

The steam wrapped her up in a chilly embrace of...

Rose jerked back from the potion, grabbing the seat behind her for balance.

"Ms.Weasley? What is it?" Professor Slughorn's worried eyes met her's.

I smelled white chocolate and peppermint tea!